diff --git a/.rspec b/.rspec
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a35c44f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.rspec
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+--require rails_helper
diff --git a/app/services/hyrax/simple_schema_loader_decorator.rb b/app/services/hyrax/simple_schema_loader_decorator.rb
index 7a9810c..b3d2f43 100644
--- a/app/services/hyrax/simple_schema_loader_decorator.rb
+++ b/app/services/hyrax/simple_schema_loader_decorator.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 module Hyrax
   module SimpleSchemaLoaderDecorator
     def config_search_paths
-      super + [HykuKnapsack::Engine.root]
+      [HykuKnapsack::Engine.root] + super
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/hyku_knapsack/engine.rb b/lib/hyku_knapsack/engine.rb
index d73eb3f..d1fc165 100644
--- a/lib/hyku_knapsack/engine.rb
+++ b/lib/hyku_knapsack/engine.rb
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ def self.load_translations!
       # only add the migrations if they are not already copied
       # via the rake task. Allows gem to work both with the install:migrations
       # and without it.
-      if !app.root.to_s.match(root.to_s) &&
+      if app.root.to_s != HykuKnapsack::Engine.root.to_s &&
          app.root.join('db/migrate').children.none? { |path| path.fnmatch?("*.hyku_knapsack.rb") }
         config.paths["db/migrate"].expanded.each do |expanded_path|
           app.config.paths["db/migrate"] << expanded_path
@@ -43,9 +43,12 @@ def self.load_translations!
       #    omniauthable
       #  ]
       # end
+
+      # Ensure we are prepending the Hyrax::SimpleSchemaLoaderDecorator early
+      Hyrax::SimpleSchemaLoader.prepend(Hyrax::SimpleSchemaLoaderDecorator)
     end
 
-    config.after_initialize do
+    config.to_prepare do
       HykuKnapsack::Engine.root.glob("app/**/*_decorator*.rb").sort.each do |c|
         Rails.configuration.cache_classes ? require(c) : load(c)
       end
@@ -53,7 +56,9 @@ def self.load_translations!
       HykuKnapsack::Engine.root.glob("lib/**/*_decorator*.rb").sort.each do |c|
         Rails.configuration.cache_classes ? require(c) : load(c)
       end
+    end
 
+    config.after_initialize do
       Hyrax::DerivativeService.services = [
         IiifPrint::PluggableDerivativeService
       ]
diff --git a/spec/rails_helper.rb b/spec/rails_helper.rb
index 9128b06..7dce724 100644
--- a/spec/rails_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/rails_helper.rb
@@ -1,22 +1,22 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
+
 # This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
 require "spec_helper"
 require File.expand_path("hyku_specs/rails_helper.rb", __dir__)
 
 ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= "test"
 # require File.expand_path('../config/environment', __dir__)
-require Rails.root.join("config", "environment")
+require File.expand_path("../hyrax-webapp/config/environment", __dir__)
 # Prevent database truncation if the environment is production
 abort("The Rails environment is running in production mode!") if Rails.env.production?
 require "rspec/rails"
 # Add additional requires below this line. Rails is not loaded until this point!
 require "factory_bot_rails"
+FactoryBot.definition_file_paths = [File.expand_path("spec/factories", HykuKnapsack::Engine.root)]
+FactoryBot.find_definitions
 
-if defined?(HykuAddons)
-  FactoryBot.definition_file_paths = [File.expand_path("spec/factories", HykuAddons::Engine.root)]
-  FactoryBot.find_definitions
-end
-
+require 'capybara/rails'
+require 'dry-validation'
 # Requires supporting ruby files with custom matchers and macros, etc, in
 # spec/support/ and its subdirectories. Files matching `spec/**/*_spec.rb` are
 # run as spec files by default. This means that files in spec/support that end
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 # require only the support files necessary.
 #
 # Require supporting ruby files from spec/support/ and subdirectories.  Note: engine, not Rails.root context.
-Dir[File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "support/**/*.rb")].each { |f| require f }
+Dir[HykuKnapsack::Engine.root.join('spec', 'support', '**', '*.rb')].each { |f| require f }
 
 RSpec.configure do |config|
   # Remove this line if you're not using ActiveRecord or ActiveRecord fixtures
@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@
   # config.include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers
   # TODO is this needed?
   config.include HykuKnapsack::Engine.routes.url_helpers
+  config.include Capybara::DSL
+  config.include Fixtures::FixtureFileUpload
 
+  # To run specs locally without the spec/hyku_specs/ directory do: `bundle exec rspec --tag ~hyku`
+  config.define_derived_metadata(file_path: %r{spec/hyku_specs/}) do |metadata|
+    metadata[:hyku] = true
+  end
   ## End override
 end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index ec7b774..65f9472 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 RSpec.configure do |config|
   # Look for an overriding spec file and skip if it exists
   config.around do |example|
-    if example.file_path.starts_with?("./spec/hyku_specs") && File.exist?(example.file_path.sub("./spec/hyku_specs", "."))
+    if example.file_path.starts_with?("./spec/hyku_specs") &&
+      File.exist?(example.file_path.sub("./spec/hyku_specs", "."))
       skip "Override exists of this test file in engine."
     else
       example.run
diff --git a/spec/support/fixtures.rb b/spec/support/fixtures.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2843b36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/support/fixtures.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module Fixtures
+  module FixtureFileUpload
+    def fixture_file(path)
+      File.open(fixture_file_path(path))
+    end
+
+    def fixture_file_path(path)
+      Rails.root + 'spec/fixtures' + path
+    end
+  end
+end